[Technical Field]
The present invention relates to a tray for an ice making machine, an ice making machine including the same, and a refrigerator including the ice making machine, and more particularly, to a tray for an ice making machine which includes a first case formed of a sheet metal or resin and a second case formed of resin, an ice making machine including the same, and a refrigerator including the ice making machine.
[Background Art]
Generally, a refrigerator includes a refrigerator compartment configured to refrigerate and store various types of food or beverages and a freezer compartment configured to freeze and store food. Also, the refrigerator may include an ice making machine installed in the freezer compartment or the refrigerator compartment.
The ice making machine receives water and freezes the water by cold air in the refrigerator. The formed ice is discharged to an ice storage case in the refrigerator to be stored therein. The ice making machine includes a tray configured to accommodate water supplied through a fill cup, an ejector configured to discharge ice formed by cold air in the refrigerator from the tray, a motor configured to rotate the ejector, a heater installed at the tray to apply heat to the tray to facilitate the discharge of ice, a controller configured to control the motor and the heater, an ice bank configured to store the ice discharged from the tray by the ejector, an ice discharge guide configured to guide the ice discharged from the tray to the ice bank, and a mounting and engaging part configured to install the ice making machine in the refrigerator using a screw and the like.
However, a tray for a conventional ice making machine is manufactured using a casted thick metal and requires cleaning, anodizing, and surface treatment such as silicone coating of a surface of the metal after casting such that the manufacturing process is long and complicated. Also, because the metal forming the tray is thick, capacity of a heater configured to heat the tray increases such that power consumption is high, and an amount of time for separating ice and making ice increases.